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I absolutely agree. He is playing head games with Andy. As has been said if he had not pointed that he beat Andy it may have sounded sincere but he goes out of his way to point out this fact everytime either the Olympics or Wimbledon is mentioned.

Will Andy Murray Escape the Shadows of the Roger Federer-Rafael Nadal Era?

It’s never been easy to be Andy Murray. Most of us wouldn’t be able to put on his shoes, let alone walk in them or scamper across punishing DecoTurf with the kinds of starts and stops that couldn’t be guaranteed at a Midas brake shop. But try and put yourself in his position.

You have devoted your whole life to tennis with the single-minded obsession of winning your first Grand Slam title. Each day is a grinding destruction of your body, or a recovery for the next collision. Even when things go well, your body’s odometer flashes its red light.

Then you win the U.S. Open.

You peer at your newly minted name on the massive trophy as tangible evidence to your long-suffering quest. You tour Times Square and walk through Central Park. You even joke around with Jimmy Fallon. Across the pond, Dunblane parties deep into the night to toast your triumph. You are the pride and joy of Great Britain.

But the celebratory banquet meats have hardly cooled into tomorrow’s lunch meats before the incessant voices return. They are calling after you again, and they will never let up.

Can you win more Grand Slams?

You’re not the storybook hero who totes away trophies with regal grace and simple smiles. You know deep inside you will never endorse smooth chocolate truffles and impart a universally acclaimed sense of winning in style.

You’ve had to scratch and claw your way to the top. Sometimes you scream obscenities and bang your racket into your head. You look scruffy and undernourished, as though you could use a few more meals to satisfy gnawing hunger. It’s the personification to your tennis drive and the reason you would more likely endorse Mariani’s beef jerky. Toughness is your identification.

Along the way, fans join your quest, winding through the lochs and peaks, feeling your trials but lifting you higher. Will they all stay with you now that the journey has ended, or will some seek adventure somewhere else?

Your burden has been lifted, but you know that it will increase. You have never been satisfied with secondary achievements. You thirst for more Grand Slam titles. You want the No. 1 ranking. You must dominate the ATP tour in 2013.

For years your tennis skills have been complimented with caveats of critical reproof. They loved your accurate backhand, but called your forehand a push. They said you could defend, but were not nasty enough to offend. You had a slice, but no second serve. Your skills could cook up wonderful recipes, but there you were setting the tables, serving and cleaning without occasion to feast on your gourmet talents.

You set up your opponent like the master strategist few often notice. You control the rally by slicing your backhand cross-court with cool, uncomfortable pace. When your opponent is pulled to the corner, you strike up the line with a searing backhand.

Tennis or chess? They are one and the same to you.

You can stretch him wide to the corners and dare him to attack your forehand. Then you will choose. Will you hit up the line with your more ferocious forehand? Maybe you will return it back across court or drop a feather shot over the net.

You set up and clear the board.

It’s what winners do.

It has taken six years. They all thought it should have come sooner, but there was always Roger Federer’s greatness, Rafael Nadal’s tenacity and Novak Djokovic’s talent. Now you have arrived but you want to be the best.

The past no longer matters. Let them talk about the records and glories the others have achieved. Nobody sups well on memories. You will feast on opportunities to come and depart only when you can no longer walk.

You have three or four years to create your own mini-dynasty. This means you have 12 to 16 Grand Slam chances to win a Wimbledon, capture the No.1 ranking and collect as many trophies as you are able to claim. You don’t know how many, but you will die trying for just one more Slam, and then just one more after that.

Let the fans and players do their own comparisons. Tennis is work. It’s painful, cruel and often unforgiving, even when you win. Nobody knows this better than you.

Andy Murray aims to return to Davis Cup against Russia after 18-month absence

World No 3 keen to play in tie next April as Britain bid to get back into the World Group

Andy Murray is aiming to make his first Davis Cup appearance for more than 18 months when Britain resume their attempt to regain a place in the elite World Group next year. Murray, who left here yesterday for this week's Shanghai Masters following his defeat by Milos Raonic in the semi-finals of the Japan Open, missed both of Britain's encounters this year but hopes to play in the home tie against Russia next April.

Like all the other top players, Murray has sometimes been unavailable to play in the Davis Cup because the dates have not fitted in with his own schedule. However, the 25-year-old Scot has already talked to Leon Smith, Britain's captain, about playing in the next tie, which falls at a reasonably convenient time between the Miami Masters and the start of the European clay-court season.

"As with all of the Davis Cup matches, I've always said that I would like to play when it's do-able," Murray said. "I spoke to Leon four days before I came over here. We had a pretty long discussion. We spoke about a number of different things with regards to the tie. We're going to chat again early next year to make a final decision on it. But it will be an exciting match, probably one of the biggest Davis Cup ties that I will have been involved in. Russia are a top tennis team, so it would be good to play in it."

For the moment Murray will be focusing on the Shanghai Masters, for which he is feeling in good shape after a useful week here in his first tournament since winning the US Open last month. The world No 3's run ended in a hard-fought defeat to Raonic, who won 6-3, 6-7, 7-6 after recovering from 4-1 down in the deciding set and saving two match points.

Murray is aiming to win Shanghai for the third year in succession but admitted that he struggled to adjust to the conditions in China 12 months ago. "The conditions there are very different to here," he said. "The court here is quicker but the balls are extremely heavy and hard, so it feels like you can really rip the ball and it doesn't fly on you; whereas the balls that they use in Shanghai are very light and the court is very gritty, very slow."

After a first-round bye Murray will play Bernard Tomic or Florian Mayer. Thereafter he is seeded to face Gilles Simon and John Isner before a semi-final meeting with Roger Federer, whom he has beaten in both their previous meetings in Shanghai. The top seeds in the other half of the draw are Novak Djokovic and Tomas Berdych. Djokovic beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 7-6, 6-2 in yesterday's final of the China Open in Beijing.

What's happened to them? Employed new people, I think. They are usually negative towards Andy, downright disrespectful at times. I discontinued my subscription with them 'cos they gave Andy so much flack.

Murray Looks For Strong Finish To 2012 Shanghai, China by ATP Staff | 09.10.2012Andy Murray hopes to use his US Open title success as a springboard for further glory in the future.

Speaking on Tuesday at the Shanghai Rolex Masters, where the 25-year-old Scot is the two-time defending champion, Murray said, "There's a few tournaments between now and the end of the year I'd like to do well [at and] I always enjoy playing here. I'll try to do as well as I can between now and the end of the year.

"If I do that, there's a possibility to get to No. 1 [in the South African Airways ATP Rankings] next year. I think getting to No. 1 in the world, that's more a reward for playing very good tennis throughout the whole season at pretty much every tournament you play.

"You need to focus more on the process and not so much just 'No. 1, No. 1'. The next Grand Slam in Australia is obviously a focus that would be not that far away, but I would say is more of a long term goal."

Having snapped Great Britain’s 76-year wait for a male Grand Slam champion, Murray insists his US Open triumph "hasn’t changed me. I haven't felt so different. I felt, yeah, a lot of relief. It was a big weight off my back at the time. So getting on the practice court, getting in the gym and stuff, has become a bit easier probably.

"I hope it gives me some more confidence when I'm on the court. That's the one thing that I hope I would have got out of it."

World No. 3 Murray comes into the penultimate ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament of the season on the back of a semi-final loss to Milos Raonic at the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships in Tokyo last week.

Murray will play Florian Mayer of Germany in the second round on Wednesday at the Qi Zhong Stadium in Shanghai.

He turned down a chance to work with Andy Murray six years ago, but they continue to be on good terms and Stefanki was delighted to see Murray win his first Grand Slam title in New York last month.

"It was absolutely nice to see," Stefanki said. "He's a good friend. I really like him as a person. He has that kind of humor that is so dry; he's almost the driest comedian possible. He doesn't laugh at anything he says, but I laugh because he's pulling people's legs to see what kind of reaction he gets. For me I'm a big fan."

Some nice bits in latest edition of tennishead together with some great pixs (especially as I missed the newspapers after USO being away).

From the editorial:Since turning pro back in 2005, Murray has mentally and physically matured into a model professional, respected and admired by his peers. This was evident in the wave of goodwill from past and present greats of the game following those USO heroics. He is ready - and more than capable - of shouldering the responsibilities his status in GB and beyond will no doubt bring' One of those peers is the magical and lovely Santoro who is interviewed in same edition:'You can't imagine how happy I was when he won the Olympics and USO. All the improvements he made in his game over the last four years. The way he became one of the best athletes we've ever had in the game. [followed by some details of the improvements and how he'd been thinking how unfair that Andy had never won a GS]....But I tell you when he played in the finals of the Olympics and the USO I was supporting him and I was really really happy for him'.Santoro is of course one of Andy's favourite players.

And thanks fp for those links - particularly liked the American one. And I feel abit like Andy - sometimes it feels like it hasn't really sunk in that he's a GS champ and we no longer have to worry that he might end up the v best player not to have won one. Though of course most of us on MW always kept the faith